Pune, Sep 1: The inaugural edition of the Ultimate Kho Kho is approaching its business end as the league stages came to an end on Wednesday (August 31). The playoffs stages will begin on Friday (September 2) and ahead of the last leg of the tournament, the organisers announced total prize money of a whopping INR 2 crore.

The ongoing Season 1 has been played at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Mahalunge, Pune, Maharashtra.

Ultimate Kho Kho - which is India's first-ever franchise-based Kho-Kho league - has amazed the fans with gripping top-notch action during the league stage. The teams, as well as the fans, are all set for the playoffs, wherein Top-4 teams i.e. Gujarat Giants, Odisha Juggernauts, Telugu Yoddhas and Chennai Quick Guns, will fight for the prestigious title.

Here's the complete breakup of the prize pool in the Ultimate Kho Kho 2022:

Winners:

The champion team will be awarded a massive cash prize of Rs 1 crore.

Runners-up:

The team finishing second in the tournament (runners-up) will bag Rs 50 lakh.

Third-placed team:

The team which will finish third will take home Rs 30 lakh.

Other awards:

There will also be other awards worth Rs 20 lakh that will be given away after the final to the top-performing players in the tournament.

"This game has a lot of potential and we are committed to giving everything in order to take it to the next level. I'm sure the prize money will encourage and motivate not only the teams but also the players as well as the game's next stars, who are watching the league on TV," said Tenzing Niyogi, CEO and League Commissioner, Ultimate Kho Kho.

It's arguably the biggest prize pool for the first season of any Indian league of non-Olympic and non-cricketing sports.

Playoffs schedule:

With the knockouts scheduled in a playoffs format, Top-2 teams, Gujarat Giants (23pts) and Odisha Juggernauts (21pts) will play Qualifier 1 on Friday (September 2) while the third and fourth-placed teams, Telugu Yoddhas (19pts) and Chennai Quick Guns (15pts), will fight in the eliminator in the first match of the day.

Top performers:

Wazirs Abhinandan Patil (Gujarat Giants) and Subhasish Santra (Odisha Juggernauts) have been the key contributors to the success of their teams with 73 and 49 attacking points respectively.

Chennai Quick Guns all-rounder Ramji Kashyap is currently the top defender in the league with a time of 19.49 minutes and he is also the second-best attacker with 103 points, after Rajasthan Warriors' Majahar Jamadar (105).

Arun Gunki will be the player to watch out for from the Telugu Yoddhas camp. He has 70 points to his name, scoring at an average of 7.78 per match.

Qualifier 2:

A loser of Qualifier 1 will then lock horns with the winner of Eliminator in the second qualifier on Saturday and winners of both qualifiers will fight for the title in the final, scheduled on Sunday.

Where to watch:

TV Channels: SONY TEN 1 (English), SONY TEN 3 (Hindi & Marathi), SONY TEN 4 (Telugu & Tamil).

Live Streaming: SonyLIV